Expedia, Viator and European Travel Platforms Sell Tours Through Artsakh After 2023 Armenian Exodus

Major international booking platforms are selling trips to Stepanakert, Shushi and other parts of Artsakh, often giving travelers little information about the Armenian population that lived there before Azerbaijan occupied the entire region in 2023.

Less than three years after more than 120,000 Armenians were forced from Artsakh, international travel companies are selling day trips through cities where Armenians lived until Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive.

Expedia, Viator, Tripadvisor, GetYourGuide, Civitatis and AAA’s Trip Canvas are among the platforms offering tours to Stepanakert, Shushi and other parts of Artsakh. Marriott Bonvoy Tours & Activities previously carried one of the same packages, but the page was no longer available by late July 2026.

The Armenian Report reviewed listings across the travel platforms and found similar tours leaving Baku and taking visitors through the region over the course of about 14 hours.

They are sold under titles including “Karabakh: Shusha–Khankendi Tour,” “Shusha, Agdam and Khankendi Historical Tour” and “Shusha and Khankendi Karabakh Cultural Exploration.”

The listings generally use Azerbaijani names for Armenian cities, including Khankendi for Stepanakert and Shusha for Shushi.

But much of the recent history of those places is missing from the tour descriptions.

The indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh was displaced following months of blockade and Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive. The Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia, had been restricted for months, causing severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and other basic supplies.

Today, international travel sites market many of those same places around history, culture, sightseeing and reconstruction.

In some cases, travelers can also earn loyalty rewards for booking the trips.

Expedia carries the “Shusha, Agdam and Khankendi Historical Tour,” operated by Smile Azerbaijan Tour. Prices start at about $119, and qualifying bookings can earn OneKeyCash through Expedia’s One Key rewards program.

Viator, owned by Tripadvisor, sells several tours through the region. Some listings are promoted as “likely to sell out.” The tours also appear through Tripadvisor, giving the same products another major international marketplace.

AAA’s Trip Canvas offers the “Karabakh: Shusha–Khankendi Tour” through a marketplace powered by Travel Curious, a London-based travel technology company.

The same package had also appeared on Marriott Bonvoy Tours & Activities, whose activities marketplace is operated under license by Travel Curious. By late July, the Marriott page was no longer available to direct visitors.

European travel companies carry additional versions of the tours.

Berlin-based GetYourGuide offers several one- and two-day trips that include Stepanakert, Shushi and Aghdam. Some have appeared under a “Republic of Artsakh” destination page even as the tours themselves use Azerbaijani names for the cities.

Civitatis, based in Madrid, offers a day trip from Baku through Stepanakert and Shushi.

The itinerary includes the former Artsakh State University, now operating as Karabakh University, and the former parliament building of the Republic of Artsakh.

Another stop is one of Artsakh’s best-known Armenian monuments, “We Are Our Mountains,” widely known as Papik-Tatik.

The monument, built in 1967, depicts an elderly Armenian couple and became a symbol of the Armenian identity of Artsakh. Yet descriptions reviewed provide little information about that history, with some presenting the monument simply as regional stone art.

Similar omissions appear throughout the itineraries.

The listings focus heavily on restored mosques, Azerbaijani cultural sites, reconstruction projects and scenery. References to the Armenians who lived in the region before September 2023 are largely missing from the descriptions.

As a result, travelers can book trips through places closely tied to Armenian history without being told why the Armenian communities that lived there are no longer present.

The tourism push comes as major consequences of the conflict remain unresolved.

Former Artsakh officials and other Armenian captives remain imprisoned in Azerbaijan, while families continue to seek information about people who remain missing.

There are also continuing concerns over Armenian cultural and religious heritage.

Armenian organizations and independent monitoring groups have documented damage, destruction and alterations affecting Armenian churches, cemeteries, monuments and other cultural sites in territories controlled by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani authorities reject accusations that the country is systematically erasing Armenian heritage.

That wider context is largely absent from the travel listings.

Instead, travelers are offered a straightforward itinerary: leave Baku, travel through Stepanakert, Shushi and other sites, and return the same day.

The cities are marketed through culture, history and reconstruction, while the Armenian population that lived there until 2023 is largely missing from the story presented to tourists.

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